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SNNEWS SHEPPARTON NEWS, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2019 5
Action: Travis Fimmel (left) as Australian company commander Major Harry Smith in a tense battlescene from Danger Close.
Time for laughs: A scene from Danger Close in which performers entertain Aussie troops at NuiDat Vietnam. Shepparton RSL president Bob Wilkie remembers being in exactly the same placethree years later — but without benches.
Reeling from the old scarsFILM BRINGS BACK OLD MEMORIES FOR SHEPPARTON VIETNAM WAR VETERANS
By John Lewis
Close to heart: Danger Close — the Battle of Long Tan isshowing at Shepparton’s Village Cinemas.
History relived: Like other Shepparton veterans, SheppartonRSL president Bob Wilkie now talks to school students about hiswar experience as part of the I Wish I’d Asked program.
Looking back: Shepparton’s Ron Thorp, who was a gunner withthe 4th Field Regiment in Vietnam, takes part in the I Wish I’dAsked schools program.
Back there: Shepparton’sBrian McInneny, who servedwith the 1st BattalionAustralian Infantry at theBattle of Coral-Balmoral inVietnam.
Time off: Private Bob Wilkie, now Shepparton RSL President,(centre) watching entertainment at Aussie army base Nui Dat in1971.
Shepparton Vietnam Warveterans have said a newAustralian film about theferocious battle of LongTang is highly realistic andconfronting.
More than 150 Sheppar-ton district Vietnam veter-ans with family membersand friends packed out anadvanced screening ofDanger Close at VillageCinemas in Shepparton lastweek before the movie wenton general release.
The film depicts theintense fighting that tookplace across 31⁄2 hours dur-ing a monsoon downpour ina rubber plantation in thelate afternoon of August 18,1966, when a single infantrycompany of 108 mostlyinexperienced Australianand New Zealand soldiersengaged with a regiment of2500 battle-hardened VietCong and North Vietnamarmy troops.
The battle had the largestAustralian losses on a singleday in the Vietnam War —18 dead and 24 wounded.Viet Cong casualty numberswere officially recorded as245, although this numberhas subsequently beendisputed as too low.
Danger Close was filmedin Queensland, directed byRed Dog director KrivStenders and featuresEchuca’s Vikings star TravisFimmel as Major HarrySmith, and Rake star Rich-ard Roxburgh as BrigadierDavid Jackson.
Shepparton RSL presidentBob Wilkie said the filmbrought back a lot of mem-ories.
‘‘It was personally veryconfronting to watch. It wasvery realistic,’’ he said.
Mr Wilkie served in Viet-nam with the 4th Royal Aus-tralian Infantry from April toDecember, 1971, based atNui Dat — the same armybase where the film was set.
‘‘I was in a very similar sit-uation,’’ he said.
Mr Wilkie took part in theBattle of Nui Le on Septem-ber 21, 1971 — the last ma-jor battle fought byAustralian and New Zealand
forces in Vietnam.Five Australians died and
30 were wounded at Nui Lewhen ANZAC forcesengaged a large enemy forcein a well-defended bunkersystem to the north ofPhuoc Tuy province.
Mr Wilkie said the battlescenes depicted in the filmwere close to the reality heremembered.
‘‘It’s pretty scary and veryintense,’’ he said.
He said after the film fin-ished, he did not hangaround to talk to otherveterans.
‘‘I just went straight homewith my wife — I didn’treally want to talk to any-one,’’ he said.
Shepparton’s Brian McIn-neny was a Private aged 21in the 1st Battalion RoyalAustralian Infantry Regi-ment when he was cut offbehind enemy lines with fel-low diggers during the Battleof Coral-Balmoral in May1968.
‘‘Eighteen of us were over-run in the early morning.Three were killed and eightwounded,’’ he said.
‘‘We had our artillerybehind us and they loweredtheir guns and we were toldto get our heads down whilethey fired over us.’’
Over three intense weeks,26 Australians were killedand 100 were wounded atCoral-Balmoral.
Mr McInneny agreed theaction depicted in DangerClose was confronting andrealistic.
‘‘It’s the best film I’veseen presenting the Aussiesin Vietnam — there’s nogung-ho stuff, but it’s war atits rawest, and it also showsthe Aussie larrikin spirit,’’ hesaid.
Although it has taken himyears to deal with the mem-ories of war, Mr McInnenytalks to classes of schoolstudents about his experi-ence.
‘‘The first time I broke
down, but it’s become a loteasier. Speaking to schoolshas helped me confrontwhat happened,’’ he said.
Shepparton’s Ron Thorpwas a gunner in the 4thField Regiment and tookpart in the Tet Offensivewhen the Viet Cong orche-strated a series of surpriseattacks from January to Sep-tember 1968.
He said the the film’sresearchers had done their
homework.‘‘I thought they did a really
good job — the gun posi-tions were as I rememberthem — it was what Iexpected to see. The mostdramatic thing was the artil-lery falling — I had seen itfall on the ground duringtraining and the film felt likethat. There were a few littlethings I didn’t feel were qu-ite right, like the fire orders,but overall they did anexcellent job,’’ Mr Thorpsaid.
Mr Thorp, who attendedlast week’s advance screen-ing with his son, said hewould recommend the filmto anyone as an accuraterecord of the Aussies in Viet-nam.
‘‘It shows the nitty-grittyof what it was like to bethere — it’s a good depic-tion of what happened,’’ hesaid.● Danger Close — TheBattle of Long Tan isshowing at SheppartonVillage Cinemas.
REMEMBRANCE DAY EVENT
Goulburn Valley VietnamVeterans Association willhave a Vietnam VeteransRemembrance Day cere-mony at the SheppartonCenotaph on Sunday from11 am.The day marks the 53rdanniversary of the Battle ofLong Tan in which 18 Aus-tralian soldiers died and 24
were wounded — thegreatest Australian loss ina single day during theVietnam War.The day also comme-morates the 521 Austra-lians who died and themore than 3000 peoplewho were wounded or suf-fered illness as a result ofthe conflict.
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